Silex Unit Completes Australia’s Largest CPV Solar Projec

By Marc Roca -
Jun 24, 2013

Solar Systems Pty Ltd, a unit of
technology company Silex Systems Ltd. (SLX), completed Australia’s
biggest concentrating photovoltaic project as part of plans to
develop one of the world’s largest at the site.

The 1.5-megawatt solar plant in Mildura, northwestern
Victoria, has started feeding electricity to the grid,
generating enough power for about 500 homes, the company said in
a statement today. It will enable the demonstration of the
technology’s reliability and allow its commercialization in
order to expand the site to 100 megawatts, Silex said.

CPV technology involves lenses and mirrors that concentrate
sunlight on solar panels, multiplying the power they can
generate. Silex’s systems consist of tree-sized dishes with
curved mirrors that focus sunlight 500 times onto a dense pack
of solar cells that have the highest efficiency available.

The largest CPV plant in operation is a 30-megawatt
facility in Colorado operated by Cogentrix Energy LLC, Bloomberg
New Energy Finance data show. The 100-megawatt Mildura II plant,
which Silex aims to start building in 2015, is the third-largest
announced globally so far.

The company, which acquired Solar Systems in 2010, operates
five smaller CPV plants in Australia and is developing its first
project abroad. It expects to complete a 1-megawatt plant at an
equestrian resort in Saudi Arabia before the end of the year.

The Mildura project received A$10 million ($9.2 million)
from the Victoria government as well as “additional” federal
funds, Ben Oliver, a spokesman for Silex, said by e-mail without
providing more details. Its expansion benefits from another $110
million in public funding commitments, which are subject to the
new plant’s performance.

The company’s plants generate electricity at a levelized
cost of about 15 to 20 Australian cents a kilowatt hour, a May
30 presentation for investors shows. The company targets
lowering the cost to 10 cents a kilowatt hour or less, it said.